Site Mobile Navigation

M.T.A. Sees Smaller Fare Increases in ’15 and ’17

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Wednesday that it expected to scale back fare and toll increases planned for 2015 and 2017, potentially tempering the effects of what has become an unwelcome biennial ritual for riders.

In a presentation at the authority’s Midtown headquarters, Robert E. Foran, the chief financial officer, told the agency’s board that an improved financial outlook, aided by higher than expected passenger and real estate revenues, had allowed for a reduction in the fares expected from riders under a new four-year financial plan. Updated projections call for a 4 percent fare and toll increase in 2015 and in 2017, down from 7.5 percent.

What form the diminished increase might take is unclear. Officials said base fares on subways and buses could move only in increments of 25 cents, if they move at all. With the authority seeking less revenue from riders, it is possible, for instance, that base fares could remain unchanged, with increases influencing the costs of unlimited-ride passes for the subway, buses and commuter rail lines, and tolls for the authority’s bridges and tunnels.

The new estimates were reflected in the authority’s final proposed 2014 budget and financial plan for 2014 through 2017. The board will vote on the plan next month.

Photo

Thomas F. Prendergast, the authority’s chairman, said, “We wouldn’t come forward with a presentation like this if we thought there was a low likelihood of doing it.”

The authority voted last year to increase fare revenues by 7.5 percent, raising the price of a subway ride to $2.50, from $2.25, among other changes. The regularly scheduled increases are part of a rescue plan approved by the State Legislature in 2009.

The move focused attention on the authority’s negotiations with the city’s largest union of transit workers, Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has operated without a new contract for nearly two years.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Scaling back the fare increase reduces expected revenues by over $900 million, Mr. Foran said. The plan, he added, hinges in large part on agreeing to three consecutive years of “net zero” increases in labor costs — a position that the authority held long before the presentation highlighting its stronger financial position.

John Samuelsen, the union’s president, said on Wednesday that the authority was “flush with cash,” arguing there was “more than enough revenue” to both increase workers’ pay and forgo the fare increases entirely.

Asked if it was possible to eliminate fare increases as well as approve increases in labor costs, Adam Lisberg, the authority’s chief spokesman, said only that the agency had produced “a responsible and achievable financial plan.”

A version of this article appears in print on November 14, 2013, on Page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: M.T.A. Sees Smaller Rise For Its Fares In ’15 and ’17. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe